Interesting, of course such things are largely an abstract concern as the number of people with 3-D printers is effectively 0 so far and using them no doubt is not cost effective I'm guessing on an Industrial scale.

Lots of things can't be reproduced via a 3D printer due to the physical properties of materials needed ie things that need to be steel, of course once nano-tech becomes mainstream such issues will be dealt with and the Industrial revolution will end as seen in Neil Stephensons 'Diamond age'.

Interesting point about bigger and bigger numbers, I take a certain sick pride in being the first person on the planet to use tera ton to describe the mass of a certain substance being released from the Chutchki sea, all that came before have used giga ton, including Semiletov and Shakov.

Carbizene wrote:Interesting point about bigger and bigger numbers, I take a certain sick pride in being the first person on the planet to use tera ton to describe the mass of a certain substance being released from the Chutchki sea, all that came before have used giga ton, including Semiletov and Shakov.

The future belongs to those that see the picture in the numbers, the image in the matrix. I think you'll be there.

Like I say, I'm trying to think in terms of centuries. Just to be optimistic.

Carbizene wrote:Interesting point about bigger and bigger numbers, I take a certain sick pride in being the first person on the planet to use tera ton to describe the mass of a certain substance being released from the Chutchki sea, all that came before have used giga ton, including Semiletov and Shakov.

The future belongs to those that see the picture in the numbers, the image in the matrix. I think you'll be there.

Like I say, I'm trying to think in terms of centuries. Just to be optimistic.

Right now is a tough time to think in centuries because the fundamental ordination of time is about to change from solar cycles to clock cycles.

Men often oppose a thing merely because they have had no agency in planning it, or because it may have been planned by those whom they dislike.-Alexander Hamilton

As a result, most objects in the physical world are not protected by an intellectual property right, either because they never were or because that protection expired long ago. Any attempt to draw a parallel between 3-D printing and the early days of online music or movie file sharing must come to terms with that critical distinction. Simply because a website like the Pirate Bay decides to open up a “Physibles” section does not make copying a physical object an act of “piracy.”

At a time when copyright discussions have expanded to the point where universities and students are locked in a fight over who owns the copyright to notes taken in class, 3-D printers serve as a reminder that not everything is swaddled in rights. You do not always need permission to build upon the past. The fact that someone could try to charge you to do something does not mean that they have a legal right to do so.

"But printing is a wordy thingie and wurds are protected by copyright, so if you print anything, even stuff, it's gorta be a wurd"...... hurpy durp.........

Demon of Undoing wrote:Like I say, I'm trying to think in terms of centuries. Just to be optimistic.

In terms of numerical expansion I think centuries is overkill, what with quantum computers and all leading to a new realm of expansion.

Optimism is a reborn experience for me of late, all be it of slender nature, thoughts of a nano, low orbit future for a few have receded, replaced by a digital future for all who seek to live. This path is relatively low capital hence bereft of the foibles of those who hold the strings, in as much as such things can be.

When visiting seductive lady sites my eye is first drawn to cgi, perhaps suggestive of an evolutionary marker, that such a path is in the genes.

Miss_Faucie_Fishtits wrote:"But printing is a wordy thingie and wurds are protected by copyright, so if you print anything, even stuff, it's gorta be a wurd"...... hurpy durp.........

As an Artist my every gesture is protected by copyright, that said if someone was to print off 3-D's of my stuff, my paintings are up to 15mm thick, I would take it as a compliment, of course if they did anything more than stick it on their wall they would be hearing from my Patent attorney at $400 an hour.

This has given me an idea to use 3-D printing to sell replicas enabling the owner of original to have ongoing profits not disimilar to selling shares. While there is an issue of demand/supply, the more there is the lower the value, this does not apply to the original. The level of demand can be seen as a indicator of what the LHP, Larger Human Psyche, places on the original and hence the original changes in value via free market mechismo.

Adds another dimension to the digitisation of a human. Say a mind can be transferred into digital format along with a biological blueprint of the individuals body. At a later date a replicant body could be printed out with the digitised mind re-installed into the brain.

Adds another dimension to the digitisation of a human. Say a mind can be transferred into digital format along with a biological blueprint of the individuals body. At a later date a replicant body could be printed out with the digitised mind re-installed into the brain.

They are now finding, as I suspected years ago, that specific memories reside is specific molecules in specific places. If it can be mapped, and it can, then everything is up for grabs.

DRM systems in the digital media world are nothing new and are utilized extensively in the music, movie and video games industries. Now, after applying four years ago, a company has this week obtained a patent for a DRM system that aims to stop future owners of 3D printers from printing whatever they like. The dream of downloading a new pair of sneakers or even a car might already be in jeopardy, before it’s even begun.

DRM systems in the digital media world are nothing new and are utilized extensively in the music, movie and video games industries. Now, after applying four years ago, a company has this week obtained a patent for a DRM system that aims to stop future owners of 3D printers from printing whatever they like. The dream of downloading a new pair of sneakers or even a car might already be in jeopardy, before it’s even begun.

People can make free sneak models and free car models.

Men often oppose a thing merely because they have had no agency in planning it, or because it may have been planned by those whom they dislike.-Alexander Hamilton

They'll never lock down a SolidWorks file, and as soon as they do, someone will rip it, just like we.... er... you guys rip DVDs. The best they can hope for is to keep their files locked up on the premises, and even then it will only take a couple open source/reverse engineering consortiums to blow that up.

Someone staying after work playing with the CMM would be all that it took.

Besides, you don't want to print parts themselves, we've been able to do that for over 20 years (I remember seeing parts that were prototyped using stereo lithography back in the early 90s.) You want to be able to print the tools to can blast them out at hundreds a minute.

Then you've got a real -- as Alph has pointed out -- overproduction problem.

They'll never lock down a SolidWorks file, and as soon as they do, someone will rip it, just like we.... er... you guys rip DVDs. The best they can hope for is to keep their files locked up on the premises, and even then it will only take a couple open source/reverse engineering consortiums to blow that up.

Someone staying after work playing with the CMM would be all that it took.

Besides, you don't want to print parts themselves, we've been able to do that for over 20 years (I remember seeing parts that were prototyped using stereo lithography back in the early 90s.) You want to be able to print the tools to can blast them out at hundreds a minute.

Then you've got a real -- as Alph has pointed out -- overproduction problem.

That's true, isn't it. Hadn't thought of it quite this way. The price of physical capital, the means of production becomes potentially much more accessible, down to the cost of a printer and the raw materials for the parts of the machine.

anderson, that is what I have been trying to explain to people for years. lavender is about to get real. Marx predicted that one day there would be plenty and everyone should have what they need. We are there now.

Men often oppose a thing merely because they have had no agency in planning it, or because it may have been planned by those whom they dislike.-Alexander Hamilton

IP only protects you when it's cost effective for it to do so. The entertainment companies have mostly given up trying, because they lost money on it. Nothing saying that can't apply to 3DP's output too.I've been told that advances in printer capacity have been in line with Moore's law. Extrapolate that into the 3D world and... Yeah Toffler may turn out to be Moore right than I ever thought possible